Basic Soul Unit - Tuff Luv EP

Basic Soul Unit - Tuff Luv EP
It was pretty clear from his steady output over the past 12 months that Basic Soul Unit was a talented producer, but Tuff Luv EP may just vault him to somewhere else. The Toronto-based beatmaker's first solo EP of 2010 fits neatly into the dirty acid vibe of The Hague's Crème Organization, finding life in the often reverential genre. Stuart Li, the man behind the BSU name, has done the same throughout his career, injecting a bit of life into the sterile waters of deep house with "Things Pass" from last year.

Whether it be the marriage of wavering synths and industrial crunch of "Jak'd Freq" or the raw offbeat acid of the title track, you get the sense that Li is operating in the same sphere as dubstep producers like Untold. Taking the best bits of one genre and wrapping it up with another, these tracks sound familiar yet new. Obvious, yet fresh. And when Li does revert to classicism, as we hear on the melodic IDM tribute "Yellow River," it's no less affecting. (It's reminiscent of Oni Ayhun's similarly aimed " OAR003-B.") But whether it's reverential or forward-thinking is of little consequence. Tuff Luv is simply great music, full stop.